I think all world powers should come together to build a generation ship

ScienceRocks

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Mar 16, 2010
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I think all world powers should come together to build a generation ship and we should send it to proxima centauri b!


Benefits
1. China, russia and the United states would work together which would promote peace.
2. Millions of high paying jobs
3. The next generation growing up feeling that they can do anything and work to become the next generation of explorers and scientist.


A generation ship
Generation ship - Wikipedia or Interstellar ark - Wikipedia

The goal isn't to get to such a planet in one generation, but to make a ship in which many generations of humans can live until it reaches said planet.

I believe once we confirm an Atmosphere that we should go for it and colonist this planet. It would insure our species has a second home and proxima b will probably last much longer then our sun(probably at least 10 times longer).
The smallest stars in the universe have exceedingly long lives — in fact, none have faced their end yet. Red dwarfs, stars with less than 0.4 solar masses, burn so slowly that they might live to 100 billion years old, much longer than the current age of the universe.
How Do Stars Die and How Long Do Stars Live? | Sky & Telescope

two planets - less chance of extinction be it from asteroid, quasar or nuclear war.
 
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1. It would need to have a big enough population in order to preserve genetic diversity! Probably at least 75-100 people at a minimum. Probably enough room to allow this to double! ;)
2. Enough room to feed these people
3. How would we power it? ramjet? Ion? Or solar wind?? All choices to consider.
4. I've heard that water can absorb radiation. So maybe we store our water reserves in the walls of the ship. Maybe we set up a recycling system.
 
I've already book you passage on the Golgafrincham B-Ark. Bon voyage.

Golgafrincham.jpg
 
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I was thinking more along the lines of a Dyson Sphere, first.

It would be a big thrill to see a human leave low-Earth orbit for the first time in nearly 50 years. We haven't traveled more than 500km from the Earth surface in all that time.

It just makes ambitious dreams like interstellar travel or solar system colonization even more ridiculous.
 
1. It would need to have a big enough population in order to preserve genetic diversity! Probably at least 75-100 people at a minimum. Probably enough room to allow this to double! ;)
2. Enough room to feed these people
3. How would we power it? ramjet? Ion? Or solar wind?? All choices to consider.
4. I've heard that water can absorb radiation. So maybe we store our water reserves in the walls of the ship. Maybe we set up a recycling system.


I wouldn't want to be on that ship, but go for it. It will end up like Lord of the flies and you could end up being just like Piggy

upload_2017-12-1_0-20-3.png


NAw, I'll stick to surfing and the beach, maybe a margaritta , be wishing you luck though.

:wink_2:
 
I think all world powers should come together to build a generation ship and we should send it to proxima centauri b!


Benefits
1. China, russia and the United states would work together which would promote peace.
2. Millions of high paying jobs
3. The next generation growing up feeling that they can do anything and work to become the next generation of explorers and scientist.


A generation ship
Generation ship - Wikipedia or Interstellar ark - Wikipedia

The goal isn't to get to such a planet in one generation, but to make a ship in which many generations of humans can live until it reaches said planet.

I believe once we confirm an Atmosphere that we should go for it and colonist this planet. It would insure our species has a second home and proxima b will probably last much longer then our sun(probably at least 10 times longer).
The smallest stars in the universe have exceedingly long lives — in fact, none have faced their end yet. Red dwarfs, stars with less than 0.4 solar masses, burn so slowly that they might live to 100 billion years old, much longer than the current age of the universe.
How Do Stars Die and How Long Do Stars Live? | Sky & Telescope

two planets - less chance of extinction be it from asteroid, quasar or nuclear war.
I see you are a big fan of sci fi movies.
 
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I was thinking more along the lines of a Dyson Sphere, first.


This at our current tech would be better. We're aiming for something that is doable today and can be done with the help of the world powers.
1. It would have about 200 people
2. Would be our mayflower to the new habitual world
you might want to look that number up.

it's about 5000 short of the numbers you need to prevent inbreeding.
 
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I was thinking more along the lines of a Dyson Sphere, first.


This at our current tech would be better. We're aiming for something that is doable today and can be done with the help of the world powers.
1. It would have about 200 people
2. Would be our mayflower to the new habitual world


Were not ready for that step.It doesn't have to be doable today because our solar system isn't imploding any time soon. We don't even have a base on the moon yet and that might be a better place to start. It would be much easier to launch a large craft from there. making a habitable moon base would be a better practice and the technology learned from that endeavor would lead to the next step.
 
I think all world powers should come together to build a generation ship and we should send it to proxima centauri b!


Benefits
1. China, russia and the United states would work together which would promote peace.
2. Millions of high paying jobs
3. The next generation growing up feeling that they can do anything and work to become the next generation of explorers and scientist.


A generation ship
Generation ship - Wikipedia or Interstellar ark - Wikipedia

The goal isn't to get to such a planet in one generation, but to make a ship in which many generations of humans can live until it reaches said planet.

I believe once we confirm an Atmosphere that we should go for it and colonist this planet. It would insure our species has a second home and proxima b will probably last much longer then our sun(probably at least 10 times longer).
The smallest stars in the universe have exceedingly long lives — in fact, none have faced their end yet. Red dwarfs, stars with less than 0.4 solar masses, burn so slowly that they might live to 100 billion years old, much longer than the current age of the universe.
How Do Stars Die and How Long Do Stars Live? | Sky & Telescope

two planets - less chance of extinction be it from asteroid, quasar or nuclear war.

It's unlikely, for several reasons, that Proxima Centauri B can readily be adapted to support human life.

So, what's going to happen when your generation ship arrives there, and finds that there is no habitable world to colonize? Will it have the resources to turn around and return to Earth? If it does return to Earth, after so many hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, after however many dozens of generations in space, will the people even be able to adapt back to living on Earth?

What you are proposing, isn't it just most likely to result in sending large numbers of people to die in space, for no achievable purpose?
 
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I think all world powers should come together to build a generation ship and we should send it to proxima centauri b!


Benefits
1. China, russia and the United states would work together which would promote peace.
2. Millions of high paying jobs
3. The next generation growing up feeling that they can do anything and work to become the next generation of explorers and scientist.


A generation ship
Generation ship - Wikipedia or Interstellar ark - Wikipedia

The goal isn't to get to such a planet in one generation, but to make a ship in which many generations of humans can live until it reaches said planet.

I believe once we confirm an Atmosphere that we should go for it and colonist this planet. It would insure our species has a second home and proxima b will probably last much longer then our sun(probably at least 10 times longer).
The smallest stars in the universe have exceedingly long lives — in fact, none have faced their end yet. Red dwarfs, stars with less than 0.4 solar masses, burn so slowly that they might live to 100 billion years old, much longer than the current age of the universe.
How Do Stars Die and How Long Do Stars Live? | Sky & Telescope

two planets - less chance of extinction be it from asteroid, quasar or nuclear war.

It's unlikely, for several reasons, that Proxima Centauri B can readily be adapted to support human life.

So, what's going to happen when your generation ship arrived there, and finds that there is no habitable world to colonize? Will it have the resources to turn around and return to Earth? If it does return to Earth, after so many hundreds, perhaps thousands of years, after however many dozens of generations in space, will the people even be able to adapt back to living on Earth?

What you are proposing, isn't it just most likely to result in sending large numbers of people to die in space, for no achievable purpose?


They will die a horrible death and your right, after living in zero gravity they couldn't adapt well to a new land environment. We don't have the technology for this yet, its like trying to sail from California to Japan on an innertube.
 
They will die a horrible death and your right, after living in zero gravity they couldn't adapt well to a new land environment. We don't have the technology for this yet, its like trying to sail from California to Japan on an innertube.

Have you seen the movie The Space Between Us? The main character is a teenage boy who was born on Mars. It becomes an important part of the plot that even with specialized surgery to reinforce his bones, and various other fairly risky and extreme measures, this young man cannot be made to survive for very long in the higher gravity of Earth.

I cannot vouch for the scientific accuracy of this movie, but if we take it as credible, that a young man born and raised in the lighter gravity of Mars cannot easily survive on Earth, due to Earth's higher gravity; then what chance would people born and raised on zero gravity or very low gravity on a generation ship have of surviving on any habitable planet?
 
They will die a horrible death and your right, after living in zero gravity they couldn't adapt well to a new land environment. We don't have the technology for this yet, its like trying to sail from California to Japan on an innertube.

Have you seen the movie The Space Between Us? The main character is a teenage boy who was born on Mars. It becomes an important part of the plot that even with specialized surgery to reinforce his bones, and various other fairly risky and extreme measures, this young man cannot be made to survive for very long in the higher gravity of Earth.

I cannot vouch for the scientific accuracy of this movie, but if we take it as credible, that a young man born and raised in the lighter gravity of Mars cannot easily survive on Earth, due to Earth's higher gravity; then what chance would people born and raised on zero gravity or very low gravity on a generation ship have of surviving on any habitable planet?

No havent seen it. sounds interesting. Yeah i think until we have the technology to simulate gravity in space, its just not going to work.
 
Never say never. I stood on the hill behind Jefferson's house, Monticello, and looked at the ridge to the West. That was considered a near insurmountable barrier in that time. Yet, less than a hundred years later, they were crossing the Rockies, Cascades, and Sierras with virtually the same technology. And shortly after that, they spanned the continent with a railroad.

While the project sounds beyond our technology today, working toward it, and developing technology along the way would certainly do all the nations good. Right now China is dreaming big, and doing huge projects. It may bankrupt them, or it may give them world dominance by 2050. We, in this nation, need to learn to dream big again. We were the best at that not that long ago. This kind of project would definitely be a challenge. "We will do that, not because it is easy, but because it is hard"
 
I think all world powers should come together to build a generation ship and we should send it to proxima centauri b!


Benefits
1. China, russia and the United states would work together which would promote peace.
2. Millions of high paying jobs
3. The next generation growing up feeling that they can do anything and work to become the next generation of explorers and scientist.


A generation ship
Generation ship - Wikipedia or Interstellar ark - Wikipedia

The goal isn't to get to such a planet in one generation, but to make a ship in which many generations of humans can live until it reaches said planet.

I believe once we confirm an Atmosphere that we should go for it and colonist this planet. It would insure our species has a second home and proxima b will probably last much longer then our sun(probably at least 10 times longer).
The smallest stars in the universe have exceedingly long lives — in fact, none have faced their end yet. Red dwarfs, stars with less than 0.4 solar masses, burn so slowly that they might live to 100 billion years old, much longer than the current age of the universe.
How Do Stars Die and How Long Do Stars Live? | Sky & Telescope

two planets - less chance of extinction be it from asteroid, quasar or nuclear war.

I think likely in the next 100 years our tech for faster engines, perhaps 1/10th to 1/2 at most, of the speed of light will be achieved. We'd be able to build a ship that could catch up and overtake anything we send out now. And if sub-light travel, as through a worm-hole, is possible and we discover it we may well be at a gen ship's destination waiting for them for years.

All speculation. Faster than light travel or even close to light speed travel may not be possible at all. In general I think we should be sending fast probes to all the close star systems at least.

In the end we may well find space is so vast we cannot travel across it fast enough to reach anything.
 

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